A sheet of Xuan Paper, shimmering with a golden light, flew in front of Chen Xu.

Wen Daoyuan is surprisingly willing to use Wende Xuan Paper to draft arrays and sketches for Chen Xu?

Chen Xu raised his hand to hold a floating golden sheet, and his gaze swiftly swept across the vast land below the Cloud Boat.

Above the Cloud Boat, the sky was heavy.

Between the mountains and rivers, the land was mottled and weary.

The chaotic voices of disaster victims in the mountain valley earlier seemed to have faded away, yet, on this land scarred by devastation, countless more beings were clearly crying out in despair.

Chen Xu touched the Wende Xuan Paper with his hand, finding it difficult to express his feelings.

He raised his hand and materialized a brush, immediately dipped it in ink, and wrote with undivided focus, conducting rapid calculations.

For this instance, he didn't use the South Sea Merfolk Ink but the Seven Stars Dark Gold Ink gifted by Wen Daoyuan himself.

Chen Xu glanced at the entry: Seven Stars Dark Gold Ink, crafted from extraterrestrial gold essence mixed with millennia-old dark stone, possesses the force of a thousand jun.

Written text with this ink has the effect of non-decay, and once the literary ink is formed, each word carries a thousand jun.

If used as a blending component for refining Literary Dao Spiritual Food, it can increase the destructive power of the food by three to five times.

Note: The exact multiple depends on the effect of the spiritual food's composition.

Hiss, yet another ink that's far beyond the ordinary.

Chen Xu was slightly startled and instinctively uttered, "Master Wen..."

Wen Daoyuan merely stated, "Just continue your calculations, for the Drought Demon may well seek trouble again. But do not fear, I am here, and I will protect you entirely."

Thus, Chen Xu raced against time, his brush moved with speed like a dragon and snake.

He wielded his brush as rapidly as the wind, and soon, the traces under his pen began to create shadowy afterimages.

Soft golden light appeared rippling on the paper; between the shadows, there seemed to be a mysterious clear chant echoing intermittently.

It was like the tinkling of spring water, like the flowing of mountain rivers, the crying of birds and beasts, and the rumble of thunderstorms...

The transformation occurs in an instant, yet with the birth of such phenomena, one can imagine how extraordinary Chen Xu's calculations are in essence.

All things seem to blossom under his brush!

Wen Daoyuan was both surprised and pleased, his expression subtly changed, muttering, "Not good."

Chen Xu's writings created such a commotion that inevitably triggered the Qi Mechanism Sensing across the entire Northern Border at this moment.

The Sixteen States of Beijiang are brewing with intense heat and poison.

Among them, who knows how many people have transformed into ghosts, how many ghosts have turned into demons, and how many monsters have mutated or taken strange forms.

The Drought Demon resides here, seemingly real yet illusory.

It appears easily slayable but is everywhere; for every one slain, countless more arise.

Indescribably a demon or monster, or perhaps a deity brewed collectively by heaven, earth, and the Mortal World.

Wen Daoyuan had previously visited the Northern Border, and had returned in defeat.

Thus, he was very aware of many issues local to the Northern Border.

He knew deeply that Chen Xu's phenomena could not be allowed to spread too widely, for if it were to draw a high-degree counterforce, all efforts thus far would be in vain.

Wen Daoyuan swiftly took out his Fighting Brush and waved it in the air.

Immediately, an invisible clear light rose above the Cloud Boat, enveloping the entire vessel for a second time.

But that wasn't all.

Because as Chen Xu's arrays and text increased under his brush, he began to draw a series of Mountain River System Maps.

Though merely a sketch with simple strokes, somehow the proportions were precise and every detail vivid.

The most terrifying aspect was that Chen Xu depicted not just the immediate mountains and rivers but every vast land he had seen flying from south to north.

What astonishing memory!

Chen Xu's glance was enough to commit the entire geography to memory.

Whether high mountains or plains, gorges or wetlands, rivers, lakes, islands, cities, villages—he marked every detail clearly.

Simultaneously, a magnificent and colossal canal emerged on Chen Xu's paper, stretching from south to north, twisting and turning.

Wen Daoyuan gradually sensed an astonishing aura growing within it.

He even began to feel that what Chen Xu was drawing wasn't a canal for diverting southern water northward, but rather a true dragon poised to soar!

This, this, this...

This once again exceeded Wen Daoyuan's expectations.

Having read Chen Xu's 'Plan to Suppress the Locust Demon', Wen Daoyuan acted immediately, aiming to perform such a feat with utmost speed, though this undertaking had never been seen before in history.

Even Wen Daoyuan found it difficult to draw a specific construction plan from a mere theoretical article.

He prepared himself for sacrifice, a leap into the unknown—

Or perhaps, Wen Daoyuan had long planned to be the pioneer martyr.

But Chen Xu constantly surprised him, overturning his understanding of the world's prodigies.

Wen Daoyuan watched intently, fixated on the birth of the vast water system under Chen Xu's brush.

His heart, once forcibly calmed, surged with excitement again, as the content on the paper grew, Wen Daoyuan heard the increasingly vigorous sound of his own heartbeat.

Thump thump thump!

It seemed to echo the heartbeat of the vast land under the Cloud Boat.

At some point, a flock of vultures appeared in the sky.

"Screech!"

Their wings battered and chaotic, filled with killing intent, they screamed harshly as they sped towards the Cloud Boat where Wen Daoyuan was.

Wen Daoyuan gritted his teeth, unmoving, while rotating his Fighting Brush inside the Cloud Boat, inscribing the word "conceal" with a seemingly slow yet incredibly swift speed.

Vast Literary Qi surged forth as Wen Daoyuan chanted gently, "Restful silence, tranquility, is the essence of all things.

I am where I am not."

As the words fell, the character for "stealth" vanished above the cloud boat.

"Scree! Scree!"

The fierce flock of vultures rushed forward, and at this moment, Wen Daoyuan seemed to smell the rotten stench of the vultures' feathers.

Yet this very group of vultures, clearly racing to collide with the cloud boat, seemed to crash only into thin air.

Boom——

Both sides clashed, yet it was soundless and silent.

The sky-covering flock of vultures simply "flew through" the center of the entire cloud boat.

But what they truly "flew through" seemed to be the cloud boat, yet in reality, it was not the cloud boat.

To put it precisely, it was more like a mass of cloud and mist, or even a patch of air.

At the border of illusion, at this moment, Wen Daoyuan achieved true displacement of heaven and earth.

This "stealth" character was indeed exquisite!

The vultures flew past the cloud boat. They came with fierce momentum, but having encountered nothing, they could only fly further, seeking the next piece of carrion.

Wen Daoyuan softly exhaled a breath.

What he truly feared was not the vultures, but he did not want the presence of these vultures to stir the entire Northern Border's qi mechanism.

The current situation was different from when they first arrived.

At that time, when Wen Daoyuan maneuvered the cloud boat into the Northern Border, although it was not exactly barreling through recklessly, it was still bold and open, without avoiding anything.

He even battled the Drought Demon above a mountain valley and attempted to bring down a rain.

These actions were Wen Daoyuan deliberately trying to startle the serpent by stirring the grass.

He wanted to test the current strength of the Drought Demon and the difficulty of bringing rain to the Northern Border before truly casting the "South Water North Transfer" spell.

The result of the test need not be elaborated; the situation undoubtedly became more critical.

Afterward, Chen Xu rose to prominence unexpectedly, bringing Wen Daoyuan a huge surprise.

By this time, Wen Daoyuan no longer dared to continue probing.

He hurriedly used spells to cloak Chen Xu's every action in stealth.

Wen Daoyuan began to feel as though he were maneuvering the cloud boat along the narrow edge of a blade in the heavens.

A cold gleam of the blade reflected onto every inch of his skin, like the ancients said: hunger and cold cut into the people's skin.

This was truly a matter of life and death!

He could only cautiously maintain the cloud boat's stealth state, while also restraining his own emotional fluctuations.

Only to see Chen Xu continuously drawing maps.

On the paper, there was not only the main canal.

There were streams, water channels, reservoirs, weirs, and dams.

It even included water lifting and blocking works, all clearly labeled.

Even where to plant trees, where to create forests, where to cultivate fields, were marked one by one.

Wen Daoyuan maneuvered the cloud boat, and the cloud boat flew over the entire Northern Border.

In front of Chen Xu, the large map of mountains and waterworks was continuously being refined.

The mighty south-north canal soared into the sky, almost bursting from the paper, seemingly forming a real dragon!

Dong dong dong——

The air around the cloud boat seemed to become increasingly thin, and during it, Wen Daoyuan encountered several supernatural phenomena blocking his way.

Much like when the vultures came flying, demonic beasts howled, and living beings crashed.

There were also several clouds of black mist rising into the air, within which appeared emaciated, pitiful human figures.

Those figures prostrated and cried out in the sky, kowtowing madly: "We beg Immortal to descend and save us poor souls…"

"I'm going to starve, master, please spare some food…"

"Can I trade my family's land with you? Oh Heaven, save us!"

"Woooo…"

Men and women, old and young, endlessly overlapping, resentments rising.

Wen Daoyuan stood steady amidst endless grievances, his heart like an ice-cold clarity.

He naturally had compassion for the world, otherwise, he would not have thought of martyrdom before.

But at the same time, having reached the realm of a great scholar, he was rational and restrained.

He sighed softly, only murmuring in the cloud boat: "When heaven and earth weep, I am but a mayfly. Through the ages, why vie for life and death?"

Having said that, a sense of clarity surged within him.

All previous confusions suddenly seemed to dissipate like smoke and clouds at this moment.

It was unclear whether it was the Jade Liquid Heart-Clarifying Wine finally taking effect, or whether the journey of the cloud boat to this Northern Border inadvertently triggered a certain spiritual mechanism within Wen Daoyuan.

In all directions, the oppressive feeling grew stronger.

Yet at this very moment, Wen Daoyuan, facing the intangible oppression of the qi mechanism of heaven and earth, seemed to respond with much more composure.

But despite the epiphany, the loss of literary qi remained significant.

Wen Daoyuan was especially concerned about Chen Xu.

As a great scholar himself, though resisting the current oppression of the heaven and earth qi mechanism made him feel a deficiency of literary qi, Chen Xu was not a great scholar—

Chen Xu was not even an Advanced Scholar.

Could he withstand the demands of this high-speed computation and drawing?

Wen Daoyuan dared not disturb Chen Xu, he simply saw Chen Xu's forehead beaded with layer after layer of sweat.

Until the cloud boat flew over the Yunhe Mountains.

Chen Xu made the final stroke on the entire Mountain River System Map.

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